Though coined in the middle of last century, corporate responsibility increasingly gained media and mainstream attention in the late aughts. Around this time in 2006, food-giant Hormel released its first Corporate Responsibility Report.
That makes this year the 10th anniversary of Hormel’s reports. “In just one decade, the 125-year-old company has transformed its product portfolio, set ambitious sustainability goals and refined its reporting processes,” a press release from Hormel said.
The current edition can be viewed online, designed complete with crisp, large images and infographics as is common for this milieu. We took a look into the document, titled Our Food Journey, to learn more about the company’s social challenges, goals, and accomplishments.
Reducing sodium
An interactive graph lets users see how much sodium has been reduced since 2006. For example, it’s tortillas Chi-Chi’s and Herdez have 34% less sodium than before, and Hormel Compleats microwave meals have 23% less sodium.
“In 2007 and 2008, Hormel Foods removed more than 560,000 pounds and 436,738 pounds of salt from its existing product line,” the company said in a press release.
“In 2015, Hormel Foods reached a 15% sodium reduction in many categories and continues to explore additional categories to reduce sodium,” it added.
Moreover, the company said that approximately 97% of the company’s portfolio has five grams of sugar or less per serving.
Environment
In fiscal year 2006, Hormel Foods reported that it recycled 13,447 tons of materials at its plants, representing 33% of its total waste. Since then, Hormel Foods surpassed its 2020 goal to reduce solid waste to landfills by 3,600 tons per year.
Last year, it started to implement projects that reduced the amount of solid waste to landfills by 1,200 tons. This involved investing $6 million in facility improvements to meet their environmental goals, the company explained in an infographic.
Community investments
The company also touts the increase of funds it allocates to support communities. In fiscal year 2006, Hormel Foods self-reported that it gave more than $2.1 million dollars “to help communities thrive.”
In 2015 the company gave nearly $7.7 million in cash and product donations, a 27% increase in 10 years. “This includes $5.2 million in hunger donations and $758,000 in education donations from the Hormel Foods Charitable Trust Matching Gifts program,” it said.
The reports are planned for annual release, written according to the Global Reporting Initiative G4 guidelines, a standard to report on sustainability. The company’s next report is slated for June 2017 for data spanning from November 2015 to October 2016.